Body Fitness Equipment: The Basics

So are you looking for fitness equipment that can work the whole body? If so, then you already know that working the entire body, instead of focusing on one or two areas, will give you a better overall feeling of health and can have other lifelong benefits.

For instance, many body workouts will help to straighten the back and increase endurance and help to lower blood pressure. If you are going to work the entire body, you will find that a lot of the time you will be using endurance machines, which include elliptical machines, stationary bikes, treadmills, rower machines and stair stepper exercise equipment. These are known as cardio machines and have the ability to give you a full body workout. This is why they are called body fitness machines or body fitness equipment.

- Treadmills:

Treadmills are great for a good cardio workout. Treadmills can either be used to simulate brisk walks, or can be used for intense sprints or longer jogs or a combination of all three. Treadmill exercises are going to be very personal, in that there are a lot of different ways in which they can be used to get the full body workout. This is all done by either changing the speed of the treadmill, usually from 1 mph to 10 mph, or by inclining the treadmill. Sometimes an inclined treadmill is better for joints and will work different parts of the leg muscles.

- Elliptical Machines:

Elliptical cross training, can allow for a full body workout as they usually have you holding onto arm bars while the legs go back and forth. Most ellipticals can also be inclined at varying degrees, and also have different resistance settings that can make an elliptical workout very intense. Ellipticals are great for people that have bad joints and cannot take the pounding that is inevitable with treadmills. This is becauase an elliptical is designed to be very smooth and the joints are never under strain. It also burns calories very quickly without straining the joints they way treadmills can.

- Stationary Bikes:

Stationary bikes have been the standard in body fitness equipment and cardio workouts for a very long time. They are also very easy on the joints, just like elliptical machines. They will also provide overall cardiovascular conditioning while providing all around fitness. Stationary bikes are great because they burn calories quickly and do not usually cause serious fatigue after use the way treadmills might.

- Stair Machines:

Stair machines, also called steppers or stair exercise equipment, are terrific for the legs and buttocks. They can build great muscle in the calf area and the buttocks while also offering a great cardio workout. Stair stepper exercise machines can provide very intense cardio workouts in the same way that treadmills can. This is a very intense workout and will condition the body very quickly. Steppers are good for the joints as well.

- Rowers:

Rower machines, although not as popular as other body fitness equipment, offer a more complete body workout then most other machines. This is because they work the legs, arms, back, abdominals and buttocks. The legs provide most of the power while the upper body does the rest. This is one of the few machines that really works your back as well as the other parts of the body and for this reason it is in a class of body fitness equipment all its own.

About the Author

Seth Daugherty has a B.S. in Instructional Technology and is currently getting his masters degree inlibrary and information science. For more information on Body Fitness Equipment go to FitnessEquipmentPro.Com